Retail Tech: Puma Taps Google Cloud, Bolt and Checkout.com Team Up
The weekly Retail Tech Roundup compiles technology news across the supply chain, manufacturing, retail, e-commerce, logistics and fulfillment sectors.
E-commerce
Puma/Google Cloud
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Puma is moving its e-commerce operations to Google Cloud, with the footwear and sportswear brand expecting the new partnership to deliver a more efficient, agile and personalized online retail experience. The collaboration will see Puma shift parts of its e-commerce ecosystem, including Puma.com, to Google Cloud and build out a global e-commerce data platform.
Early results have already driven significant customer experience improvements, including a 19 percent increase in average order value, as a result of Puma’s use of Google Analytics and BigQuery to better understand and tailor content to customers.
In addition, using Apigee and BigQuery, Puma has been able to access real-time inventory levels up to four times faster, helping shoppers find the exact products they wish to buy at the nearest possible stores.
“With Google Cloud’s AI and data capabilities, we have been able to not only gain a far better understanding of our customers, but also translate that insight into frictionless commerce, and more personal shopping experiences both online and offline,” said Pancho Ortuzar, director global e-commerce engineering at Puma, in a statement. “Migrating our e-commerce infrastructure to Google Cloud will greatly accelerate our efforts towards making Puma’s direct-to-consumer channels a significant driver of overall business growth.”
Over the course of this multiyear agreement, Puma will incorporate Google Cloud AI capabilities at all stages of its direct-to-consumer channels for more tailored and rewarding customer experiences. Vertex AI Search for retail will bring Google-quality search and recommendations to Puma.com’s digital properties, helping shoppers better discover Puma’s products and deliver personalized shopping recommendations to consumers based on their current interests and trends.
In addition, the brand will explore Google Cloud’s generative AI and visual search tools to power future bespoke offerings, such as a generative AI shopping assistant and options to “Shop the Look”—or virtually try on sportswear items—with the help of AI-generated content.
Google Cloud’s AI capabilities will also power Puma.com’s refreshed global loyalty program, accelerating rewards transactions and tailoring special offers and promotions to the preferences of both individuals and their families.
“Family has always been a big part of the Puma experience, and our AI-driven approach to loyalty will help us better understand and reward customers based not just on individual but also on family needs,” said Pancho Ortuzar, director global e-commerce engineering at Puma. “By streamlining the technology stack and eliminating data silos with the help of Google Cloud, Puma employees are now freed up to pursue innovative uses of AI and other technologies that build stronger, more nuanced relationships with customers.”
As part of the migration, Puma will consolidate its global e-commerce data and workloads onto Google Cloud, creating a single data engine that will give the company end-to-end insight into how audiences engage with its brand and digital content, driving faster and more accurate personalization of products and offers. The move will not only generate substantial cost savings compared to Puma’s previous e-commerce cloud, but also will empower the company to more efficiently exchange data with other internally-used cloud platforms, third-party e-commerce solutions and even its global network of vendors and partners.
“By building a centralized customer data platform on Google Cloud, we get the highest quality technology when it comes to analytics, data governance, and security, allowing us to radically improve how we work with partners in the interests of our customers,” said Ortuzar. “Common data standards and API management through Apigee mean that no matter where our retail outlet operators are on their digitization journeys, they can tap into our digital services and insights without having to alter their current IT systems. That, in turn, enables them to create even more localized experiences, supported by consistently world-class data security and operational intelligence, with minimal disruption to them or their customers.”
Checkout
Bolt/Checkout.com
Checkout technology company Bolt and global payment solutions provider Checkout.com have entered a partnership.
As part of the collaboration, Bolt will become Checkout.com’s exclusive one-click checkout provider and Checkout.com will become Bolt’s preferred payment partner.
Checkout.com is focused on boosting its merchants’ conversion performance, and will also leverage Bolt’s massive shopper network of 80 million U.S. shoppers and growing merchant base. Bolt will integrate Checkout.com to expand payment options for new and existing merchants, which include brands like Saks Off 5th, Revolve and Casper. Checkout.com counts Shein, Alibaba and Farfetch as customers.
Reverse logistics
G2 Reverse Logistics
Returns management provider G2 Reverse Logistics, has announced $9.6 million in seed funding led by Dell Technologies Capital. The capital will be used to enable sales and marketing investments consistent with the company’s global growth strategies.
The company’s end-to-end reverse logistics platform is designed to enable dynamic, data-driven decision making across the entire returns lifecycle. Powered by artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics, G2RL says it can maximize profit recovery and save customers 20 percent in added costs across the return ecosystem, on average.
Powered by proprietary technology, the G2RL Prescriptive Analytics platform is purpose-built to optimize operations and minimize costs by constantly analyzing and improving returns in real time. The platform enables true end-to-end product routing and disposition to maximize recoveries.
The open API architecture enables G2RL to integrate with existing client systems in a way designed to create a more flexible, scalable solution. The platform boasts efficient returns processing, optimized profit recovery and automated returns decisions for retailers, manufacturers, brands and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) alike.
Resale
Recurate
Recurate has unveiled an update to its ResaleOS offering, known as its “2.0 suite” of solutions.
ResaleOS 2.0 represents a collection of product improvements and enhancements aimed at offering faster implementations, additional program flexibility, deeper data and insights and enhanced partner integrations.
The enhancements and new functionalities include faster setup times, as well as a more modular approach so brands can tailor the configuration of their program to enable trade-in or peer-to-peer resale models.
ResaleOS 2.0 offers an enhanced API surface, letting partners create and manage listings and fulfill orders. From e-commerce returns, to customer trade-in, to overstock inventory, this allows brands to activate and merchandise any type of resale supply. Users can engage Recurate’s preferred partners, or Recurate can onboard users’ existing warehouse or 3PL at no cost with the firm’s listing and fulfillment APIs.
Recurate clients can now leverage insights into customer purchase history, new item inventory levels, and brand catalogs. Recurate’s owner outreach tools allow users to source resale inventory from their existing customers when prices are at their highest, or to chase into unmet demand.
Additionally, ResaleOS 2.0 enables customers to checkout with both full-price and secondhand products at the same time. And Recurate’s new concierge service allows consumers to list items for resale or trade-in through a tailored SMS experience, creating a new access point for circular economy participants.
Individual sellers, ambassadors and influencers can curate and share direct links to their branded closets, potentially driving traffic to users’ stores and increasing cart sizes.
Fulfillment
Geodis
Geodis has launched a new multi-carrier parcel shipping solution designed to reduce costs, improve on-time performance and optimize parcel shipments for its contract logistics and transportation management customers. With its new parcel shipping solution, Geodis is now offering direct carrier connections to customers to reduce manual uploads of rates and surcharges to optimize e-commerce fulfillment operations.
In addition to facilitating direct contact with carriers in Geodis’ current network, this software allows customers ranging from large enterprises to small companies to connect with an extensive range of additional regional and Latin American carriers to provide clients with an integrated parcel transportation strategy that spans worldwide.
Through cloud-based technology, the new solution integrates with external warehouse management systems and e-commerce platforms in an effort to streamline the fulfillment process according to each customer’s unique specifications and preferences.
By integrating with many different carriers, the software is built to allow for enhanced rate shopping and carrier selection capabilities. The platform can select carriers based on demand and undergo customized rate shopping based on each customer’s specific needs. Customers can make data-informed choices by comparing shipping rates based on parcel size, destination and delivery timeline.
Geodis’ multi-carrier parcel shipping solution is built on a cloud architecture. Once carriers are onboarded into the platform, they become available for all customers, which allows for faster implementation times. Combined with parcel tracking, the multi-carrier parcel solution allows Geodis customers to gain visibility into shipments. Generated alerts enable Geodis customers to proactively address events such as late or damaged shipments to meet customer expectations and maintain delivery KPIs.
Robotics
Locus Robotics/Geodis
Locus Robotics, a provider of autonomous mobile robots (AMR) for fulfillment warehouses, has announced a new implementation with global logistics provider Geodis to bring the robotics automation technology to Mexico to fulfill e-commerce and retail orders for an undisclosed major global apparel brand.
The new site, Geodis’ first in Latin America to feature Locus Robotics technology, is located in Cuautitlan Izcalli, Mexico and features a fleet of Locus’ Origin bots operating across all levels of a three-level mezzanine structure, controlled by the innovative LocusOne warehouse execution platform. LocusOne enables pick-and-pass, multi-level functionality while delivering real-time operational visibility and management insights to ensure high productivity and a fast ROI.
In August 2022, Geodis announced a new expansion agreement to deploy a total of 1,000 LocusBots at its worldwide warehouse locations over the next 24 months.
Locus Robotics’ multi-bot solution incorporates autonomous mobile robots that can operate collaboratively with human workers to improve piece-handling productivity with less labor than traditional picking systems.
John Lewis/Locus Robotics
Locus Robotics also recently announced its partnership with John Lewis & Partners following deployment of Locus AMRs at their distribution centre in Milton Keynes, England. This represents the first deployment of mobile robotics automation at John Lewis and the continued expansion of Locus Robotics’ footprint in the U.K.
John Lewis has seen a 50 percent increase in their picking rates following the introduction of Locus on their site.
The LocusBots collaborate with partners at the site to improve productivity and efficiency in order fulfillment while also improving worker ergonomics and safety by eliminating unproductive walking time and the need to push heavy carts or lift items. The robotic fleet is helping John Lewis achieve greater throughput and accuracy as it scales up its e-commerce operations to meet rising customer demand.
“Locus stood out to us for their proven technology and their experience deploying in some of the world’s most innovative facilities,” said John Munnelly, distribution director at John Lewis in a statement. “The Locus solution has provided the performance levels and reliability we need to keep up with the increasing focus on efficiency and in support of our customer service standards.”
Plus One Robotics
Plus One Robotics, a provider of AI vision software and solutions for robotic parcel handling, launched two product updates designed to enhance efficiency and expand the company’s reach into new market segments.
New features include updates to depalletization and induction capabilities, both of which can help businesses streamline and optimize their fulfillment operations.
The new depalletization feature addresses growing customer needs in fulfillment, including the demand for increased SKU entitlement for shrink-wrapped cartons and trays. The new capabilities help overcome a longstanding technical challenge faced when automating the depalletization process—accurately distinguishing between groups of densely packed, shrink-wrapped items.
To tackle this issue, Plus One Robotics’s new vision capabilities are designed to identify different product configurations, streamlining the depalletization process and optimizing picking accuracy. This feature is robot-agnostic and designed to work with any of Plus One’s system integrators’ depalletization systems, offering a solution for warehouses looking to automate their material handling process.
Plus One Robotics is also strengthening its induction solutions by debuting a new gripper design. The Individual Cup Control Gripper (ICC Gripper) leverages the intelligence of Plus One’s PickOne vision software to grasp and singulate parcels using the optimal configuration of active suction cups.
This advanced design offers several benefits, including minimizing unintentional multi-picks, maximizing retention force.
The combination of cup configurations enabled by this design allows the gripper to match the shape of the target parcel and avoid accidentally grasping adjacent parcels. And by activating only the necessary suction cups, the gripper ensures that the full force of the vacuum is applied to the parcel surface, preventing the cost of damaged or dropped parcels.
